Worsening Water Crisis Sparks Protests in Mexico's Guadalajara
Residents of Guadalajara, one of Mexico's biggest cities, are demanding answers over a worsening water-quality crisis that has left many households reporting foul-smelling, sediment-filled tap water. A major protest last weekend put the issue in the national spotlight after police deployed water cannons and tear gas; dozens of people were injured and officials said nearly 40 were arrested. President Claudia Sheinbaum rebuked the police for their tough response and pledged to review two water infrastructure projects for the area, but further demonstrations are planned in the coming days, with videos circulating of residents filling buckets and jars with murky brown or black tap water. The metropolitan area, in the western state of Jalisco, is home to more than five million people and is Mexico's largest industrial and manufacturing center. A June citizen-monitoring study by the Mexican Institute for Community Development (IMDEC), covering 184 household samples from 90 neighborhoods, found that more than 93 percent contained no detectable residual chlorine, the disinfectant normally used to protect water from bacterial contamination, and reported elevated levels of lead, mercury, nitrates and E. coli in some samples. IMDEC called for a public-health alert, independent testing by accredited laboratories and investigations into the sources of contamination. A spokesman for Jalisco's government did not respond to a request for comment. (GSM, via Reuters)
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：墨西哥瓜达拉哈拉大教堂。图片来源：ProtoplasmaKid，CC BY-SA 4.0。Photo: Guadalajara Cathedral, Mexico. Photo: ProtoplasmaKid, CC BY-SA 4.0.
